TDP to put pressure on BJP over injustice in Union Budget

Angry over the injustice meted out to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget 2018-19, the state’s ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is planning to mount pressure on BJP.

At the state cabinet meeting here on Friday, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu told his cabinet colleagues that the party will take a political decision on the issue, party sources said.

Naidu, who is also the TDP president, said there will be a fight on the injustice done to the state. He, however, advised his ministers to exercise restraint and not to speak whatever they like.

The TDP is a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the junior ally in TDP-led government in the state.

The nearly three-hour-long meeting, which ended at 8.30 p.m., discussed in detail the meagre allocations made to the state in the budget despite repeated demands for last four years to fulfill the commitments made at the time of the state’s division.

Naidu noted that compared to the northern states, the budget allocations for the southern states were meagre. He said among the southern states, Andhra Pradesh has the lowest revenues and he had been demanding the Centre to handhold the state till it comes up at par with other states.

The meeting felt that the Centre ignored the demands for release of funds under special assistance measure announced last year in lieu of special category status, allocation for Polavaram project and financial assistance for development of state capital Amaravati.

The ministers were of the view that the Centre should have at least sanctioned Metro project for Visakhapatnam.

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